Yorkshire are hoping to reap the rewards over the next month of a fully-fit Tim Bresnan's quest to regain his Test place.

Bresnan, 28, returned second-innings figures of 10-4-23-2 in the Roses friendly at Headingley, doubling his workload as a result, and cementing his place in the side to face Durham in a County Championship fixture at Chester-le-Street next Wednesday. The longer-term goal is to be back in the England squad for the first match of the two-Test series against New Zealand at Lord's in four weeks.

Confirming there had been no reaction to his recent elbow surgery, the Yorkshire coach, Jason Gillespie, said: "People don't realise how sore the lad has been over the past year or so and now, being pain-free, his pace will be a bit more consistent and you will probably see a bit more of a smile on his face. The goal at the start of the week was for him to bowl 20 overs so he's ticked that box."

Bresnan's return means that one of Steve Patterson, Jack Brooks and the former Durham seamer Liam Plunkett will miss out for Yorkshire's second match of their return to the Championship's top tier. In addition, Richard Pyrah and Moin Ashraf were jettisoned to second XI cricket this week.

"We have got a depth of fast-bowling that is, I believe, as strong as there is going around county cricket and it is a great problem to have," said Gillespie. "Guys are going to be disappointed but that is just part and parcel of professional sport. But you can't get through a county season with three or four bowlers. You need your whole squad working together and our lads have bought into that."

Another England player, Joe Root, will also return to competitive action, having made scores of 11 and 23 against Lancashire. Yet the biggest winner from the 13-a-side friendly may be the leg-spinning all-rounder Adil Rashid, whose most notable contribution to the season prior to this week had been to apologise for off-season criticism of his captain, Andrew Gale.

Gillespie revealed that Yorkshire considered Rashid as a top-six option for last week's innings defeat to Sussex and, with fellow spinner Azeem Rafiq carrying a couple of niggles, he strengthened his case for inclusion with a hundred alongside fellow centurion Jonny Bairstow. "We want him to trust his game and back his ability: spin it hard, get it above the batsman's eyeline when bowling and walk out determined to be a better batter than when he went in," said Gillespie.